Vengeance Most Foul
by Shizuka no Taisho
Summary: Smirking, he stabbed the blade deep and watched as the grave cracked, a deep pit awakening in the thick loam, the smell of death and blooms vivid in the air. He kept going, kept going, until there was nothing left but a deep hole in the ground, and a coffin in its very center. The lid was rotting and easy to pry it open, unveiling the treasure within. "Hello Lawli. Miss me?"


Dirt crumbled under the shovel, the grassy layer above it giving away to the seemingly unyielding earth that held his prize. Smirking, he stabbed the blade deep and watched as it cracked, a deep pit awakening in the thick loam, the smell of death and blooms vivid in the air. A perfume for the insane, he gladly breathed it in and started shoveling dirt out of the way, a rapid pile building up as he kept going, kept going, until there was nothing left but a deep hole in the ground, and a coffin in its very center. The lid was rotting, a year's worth of time having taken its toll on the once rich wood, and it was easy to pry it open, unveiling the treasure within. A skeleton, arranged in death's relief, surprisingly clean of any fleshy remains. He'd recognize it anywhere. This was the one. Those cheekbones, the slender nose; he'd followed their curves for years under flesh and muscle, memorizing, them, just waiting for the moment when he could peel the skin away, discard the meat and see what truly hid under the mantle of the world's most famous creation. The Judas of Lucifer's reign.

Smirking, B pulled the skull out of the ground, holding it carefully in his right hand and watching the sun's bloody rays streak it with light. "….hello Lawli. Miss me?"

A horrifying sight, even for one not so religiously inclined. And yet the acts were watched from high above by all seeing eyes, and they were embraced. Considered divine. The desecration of an enemy's corpse was crucial in proving your worth, if you chose to believe the philosophies of old. Why else would people take such care with the dead, burying them in hallow earth, under the name of a God who let his children be condemned to life, and the every temptation it could offer. It was fear. Disturb the dead, and the soul would forever be at unrest, unable to make peace and ascend to the afterlife, whether it be above or below.

Exactly what he wanted. B fingered one of the skull's gaping sockets, glancing up. The eyes from above watched him, piercing in their judgment and condemnation. Not towards him, he knew, but the skull. Its owner. Lawli. His own personal demon, and a villain to criminals everywhere. But not just criminals. Mere criminals didn't pick up strange notebooks off the ground and deem to use them to change the world, warping it to their own twisted self image of justice and propriety. Only _his _criminal did that. His beloved killer.

"What do you think, Kira-kun? Lawli looks pretty good for a dead guy! Right?" B held up the skull like it was a trophy, grinning fiercely. His was nearly a match for the gaping, hinged smile in his hand. "Always wondered if he was that pale _under _the skin too….heh, guess now we know!" He started to hum, tossing the piece of bone from hand to hand. "White as a ghost, totally insane…."

"Did we really come all this way so you could serenade it?" Sarcastic, but not without a hint of humor. That was the voice that spoke from above, rich and dark as chocolate, with the faintest tinge of a bloodlust that spoke to B in ways words never could. "Give it to me."

He leered, gripping the skull tighter and turning it to face him, lips drawn back in a mocking pout. "See what I have to put up with? Lawli, you're so lucky you're dead! His royal godliness made me get up at five am, just so we could come dig up a pile of bones. And do I get a thank you? No!" Sighing with a dramatic roll of his eyes, B shook his head. "No respect from today's youth…."

From up above, copper eyes narrowed in obvious annoyance, and a hand shot down and breached the gap between them. Surprisingly though, it bypassed the toothy piece of bone, instead fisting in B's hair and roughly yanking his head upward. "You'll get a thank you when you've earned it, B." Getting down on one knee, the brunette B only knew as Kira drew him close, sinfully golden lips hooked into a deadly smile. "So far all you've managed to do is dig up a little dirt and sing to a skull. Nothing really worth rewarding."

"Rewarding? Mm…" his smile was mimicked almost perfectly, save for the eerily sharp canine teeth that poked past B's lower lip. "Instead of a thank you, can I get something else when I _do _earn it?"

Light laughed, disgust clotting his voice. "Whatever filthy, degenerate thoughts are running through that twisted head of yours, you can stop them now. I'm not doing anything that's even remotely sexual with you tonight. Not here." Amazingly, he managed to sound a bit amused too, while saying all that. Just like him. He always had to overcomplicate matters with his conflicting emotions and thoughts, as B was entirely too aware. It came with being a closet narcissist and sadist, not that his darling Kira would ever admit such a thing. Too proud, too bold. And entirely too much of a killjoy.

"Nothing at all?" B stuck his lower lip out. "Kira-kun, have you always been a stick in the mud? Or was that something else your little notebook gifted you with?" Pushing Light's hand away from his hair, he held L's skull close to his chest and sank to his knees at the bottom of the hole, earning an exasperated sigh from his companion. "You really need to lighten up. Even Lawli has a better sense of humor than you-and he's dead!" He pat the bony dome, stroking its cracks and discolored patches with his fingertips. "No offense Lawli. It's nothing personal against you. Lots of people are dead, and they're all a lot worse off than you! Remember Quarter Queen? Poor dear looked like hell when I was through with her." A bit nostalgic, his fingers moved to caress the rim of sightless sockets. "The whole eyeless look really suits you a lot better…too bad I never got to see it in the flesh."

The pointed look up at Light broke the web of silence surrounding them, and he scowled at the darker brunette, fingers tapping impatiently on the inner crook of his elbow. "Haven't I already apologized for that? I know it was your lifelong dream to torture him until he begged for mercy, but things just didn't work out that way. He knew I was Kira again, or at least suspected." Light glanced down at the bones arranged in the coffin, idly crumbling a few clumps of dirt with his other hand. "Unlike a certain psychopath I know, it wasn't in my plans to get thrown in prison and _fake _my own death_! _My death, faked or not, would mean the loss of some valuable ties and allies. I couldn't risk that."

Coward. B thought it kindly, flopping on his back in the dirt and staring up at the bloody sky. "You'd still have me. Aren't I good enough for you, Kira-kun?"

"…..you're a ghost, and I'm but a servant to your temptations."

The sky darkened, red streaking with midnight blue. Lifting his hand, he traced the line where the colors seemed to blend and swirl, chuckling under his breath. "Naughty darling. If anyone's leading you to temptation, it's that Shinigami of yours. I'm just-helping you embrace that which was already there." His thumb smudged the blue, blotting it out. "And if you'd actually _read _Hamlet, you'd know that the ghost was a figment of his imagination. His mind cracking, letting the insanity seep out. I'm real." B glanced at Light, smirking devilishly. "You'd know that better than anyone."

"There's no definitive proof that the ghost wasn't real. It's all up to interpretation." Light ignored his perverse smiles and focused on the skull resting in his hand, memorizing the figures and sharp shape of the bone as his eyes flickered, mocha bleeding into garnet near the pupils. "Some think he was the devil, come to tempt Hamlet into committing an ultimate sin." Looking around, he seemed to admire the grave and its piles of earth near the tombstone, its shadowed cross casting a dark stain across the ground. "Still think you're not him?"

"Not a chance." A hysterical laugh fell from B's lips. "You sinned _all _by yourself, Kira-kun. You didn't need my help, or my temptations." Grinning, he held up L's skull. "Just ask Lawli. I'm sure he'd agree."

Light visibly grimaced, and he made to snatch the piece of bone from him. "I didn't come here so we could debate classic literature! Or so you could defile it with your perverse philosophies. Now get out of that grave, and give me the skull!"

"Or what? I'm a ghost, remember? You can't hurt me." Lips twitching, B was sitting up and had a hand wrapped tight around the brunette's arm before he could even speak, yanking him forward, insanely close to falling into the grave. "You could never hurt me, Kira-kun. When it comes to your tricks, I'm invincible." He leered at Light, leaning up to purr by his ear, the skull dangling a foot off the ground and getting molested by the wandering fingers that crept inside its jaw and made a fist. "Do you ever think about that? For all your tricks, all your manipulations and genius…there's one person you'll never be able to rid yourself of. No matter how much you may ever want to." His voice dropped a pitch, going raspy. Possessive. "You're _stuck _with me."

Silent as the grave, Light glared at him. There was such a fire in his copper eyes…such heat-B stepped back, careful to keep hold of him and prevent any damage coming. He didn't think the teen would attack, but if he did, he couldn't promise himself not to retaliate. Thrill of the game and all. And just because they were in a graveyard didn't mean he wanted to feel the horror of seeing his love be buried six feet under just yet. Not when things were so-interesting between them. "Better me than Lawli, Kira-kun. But I guess even he couldn't keep away~!" Holding up the skull, he clicked its mouth open and closed and pushed it close to Light's face. "Aww, seeee? He missed you so much, he's trying to give you a kiss!"

Disgust clouded the handsome features before him. "I didn't want his attentions then, and I definitely don't want them now!" Smacking the skull so hard it flew off his hand, Light slid down gracefully into the hole and went after it, auburn eyes hard as steel and yet melting in their sockets. "The only thing I want is to finish what we started. What we came here for!"

So eager for revenge. Or could it even be considered revenge? B didn't really care. Kira-kun wasn't going to spoil their fun with his temper. "Now now darling. Lets not be hasty." Grabbing him around the waist, he hauled Light against the wall of the grave and trapped him there, pinning his arms above his head. "Remember…don't be a spoilsport…..for Lawli's sake, we should take things slow. Don't you want this to be a birthday he'll never forget?"

Lashing out like a wounded animal, Light kicked B's thigh and glared at him. "What did I say about those filthy thoughts? You may be a perverted monster, but I'm not! Now let me go, and we'll get this over with and leave. You can ravish me senseless, when we get _home_."

B looked at him, a curious glint in his red eyes. He imagined the blood was roaring in poor Light's ears, making him crazy with rage. Darling Kira-kun never would admit when he was wrong, or when he'd been tempted to give in to his instincts, act like the animal that lurked inside them all. He was just too stubborn like that. A shame really. Things would be much simpler if he'd just let go every once in a while. Even by striking him, it showed that his gasket was ready to blow. B snickered. That could be fun later. "Calm down….I wouldn't dream of doing anything in Lawli's grave. Only on it!" His laughter filled the hole, ringing in Light's ears. "No…..no. We came here with very-specific intentions, and we're going to fulfill them. I promise." Leaning in close, he kissed the sensitive whorl and flicked his tongue across the flesh, hands slowly gliding down the brunette's wrists and over his shoulders. "But that offer-maybe we should get this over with, hm~? I'd hate to delay another chance to tempt you…"

"A delay wouldn't stop you, B. Nothing would." Light pushed him away, dusting dirt off his jacket. He looked his composed self, save for the continuing smolder deep within his irises. For their sake, B knew he'd have to let this end, otherwise they really would end up fucking in a grave. And as utterly tempting an idea as it was….he smirked, scooping up the skull and holding it out.

"Here you go, Kira-kun. I'd give it to you on a silver platter, but I left all my cutlery at home. So sorry."

The joke barely drew a smile from the brunette. "I bet you are. Seeing as how I put you through so much trouble so we could get here." Light clutched it tightly between his hands, gazing into the sockets as if they could actually stare back. "After all this, you still went through with it. You dug up his grave. You opened his coffin, let me see his remains." Hesitating, he thumbed the cranium, raising his eyes from it to B, and there was no doubting the dark glint they held. It was the same one he saw every time he looked into a mirror. "….and now, you're just going to sit back while I do this. Why?"

A heavy question. "Leave it to you to ask something like that," B drawled. "You know what they say about men that ask too many questions, don't you?" Closing the gap between them, he drove the brunette back even further into the grave, watching him stumble against the coffin and go tumbling down onto the remains inside. He didn't hesitate, dropping to one knee and planting a hand beside Light's head, bone rattling when he brushed it aside. "I guess-because it's fair. I tried beating Lawli at his own game, and I failed. …well, perhaps failed is a harsh word. I miscalculated. He sent his little drone after me, and she finally caught on towards the end. Stopped me." There was an unconscious flit of caramel apple eyes to the scars dusting his throat, his hairline. Marks of his failure. "You know the story after that."

"I'm the only one who really does." Sepia fingers reached up and caught his chin in a firm grip, pulling B down into the coffin. "You're giving this to me as a reward? Not some twisted sense of affection?"

"Affection?" A cooing sound rumbled in B's throat, and he slipped his knee between Light's legs, pushing as close as humanely possible to the brunette. "You know I adore you….dearest Kira-kun. Don't tell me you doubt it?"

Light shook his head. "No. But it'd be just like you to consider this a fucked up style of wooing." He touched their lips together, stroking the pallid skin with his tongue. "So this…reward. It's not the kind that gets revoked later, is it? Or has any hidden repercussions? You're going to let me do this, and then we, what? Go home together? Act like nothing happened? Or will this be the day when you finally snap, tell me my time's up and leave me in this hole to rot, all spawning from some twisted need for revenge against me for being the one who managed to do what you couldn't? Wouldn't. Never had a chance to do."

B chuckled. Couldn't help himself. The ramblings were completely paranoid, but it wasn't without cause. After all, they were lying on top of the skeleton of their former foe, in a coffin deep within the earth, and it was the very night when its owner would've celebrated his birthday with cookies, cakes, and any other sweets he could concoct. And he was going to let dear Kira-kun have the last laugh, proving himself official victor over the greatest detective in the world. No. For once, Light's meticulous attention to details and the need to overanalyze everything was well founded. He had every right to be concerned. "I know you're worried, but don't be. This is a real gift, Kira-kun. You beat Lawli at his own game. _You _killed him." He reached out of the coffin and picked up L's skull, laying it gently on Light's chest. Above them, birds swarmed and cawed their pleasure, black as ink and a dark addition to their event. "The croaking raven doth bellow for revenge, my dear." B purred, stroking Light's arm. "…This is yours. Your only chance for permanent closure…..what's it to be?"

Looking at the piece of bone, the brunette slowly pushed him away and let it fall to his lap, nails scraping across the jaw and cleaning dirt and rotten wood from between the teeth. "That is the question, isn't it?" A dark smile warped his lips, teeth peeking through and glinting in the dying sun. "….it's like you said. He deserves a memorable birthday. After everything he put me through-" Light rose to his feet, stepping out of the coffin and catching L's skull in his hand. "Us through. He deserves punishment. Something…permanent."

"Oh, I agree. Only the best for our Lawli." It didn't take any convincing to get B to follow suit, and they both moved to stand at the foot of the coffin, gazing at its alabaster remains as they were cast into shadow, night creeping in quickly. "….you know, the Egyptians believed that to disturb a body once its soul had departed for the underworld would forever keep it bound to the earth. Never at peace. Never to know an afterlife." Smiling a devil's grin, he rested his chin on Light's shoulder and wrapped gangly arms around his waist, watching the sunlight play tricks, turning the skull red as blood, then the grey of a corpse's flesh. "If they're right, he'll never have a chance. He'll be trapped to the earth….just a pathetic, useless shell of his former self."

"You're right." Light's smile was just as evil, just as vindictive and unwelcome on these hollowed grounds as B's. "We already made this earth ours once before. Why not finish the job? After all, wasn't it Hamlet that said revenge should have no bounds?" Their eyes met over his shoulder, red on red., and with a laugh he hurled the skull into the air, right at the marble cross above. Just as the sun completely set, plunging the world into grisly doom, it impacted and shattered, and together the two watched pieces of bone fall to the ground, some tumbling back into the grave and splattering the inside of the coffin, disrupting their companions.

"…..ashes to ashes, dust to dust."

B hugged him tighter, laughing under his breath. "Happy birthday, Lawli."

A soft cloud of dust rose up from the earth, hovering around their legs like a fog, making them appear a pair of avenging angers, come down to smite the wicked and cast God's judgment upon the masses. But the only god here was a bloodthirsty killer anxious to spread his judgment across the globe, and he held such a being in his arms, keeping him steady as the brunette buckled over in laughter, still murmuring the age old verse in a breathy voice. "Very poetic darling." Stepping up onto the coffin, he climbed out of the hole and lifted Light into his arms. "It almost brings a tear to my eye." Unable to help it, he snickered. "I just can't help it though! I always cry at funerals."

An arm wrapped around his neck, fingers weaving into unruly black strands. "These things are always more beautiful the second time around." Watching the grave become shadowed and dank, Light rested his head on B's shoulder. They were like ghosts in their silence, unmoving, until the darker brunette set him down and picked up the shovel, beginning to haul earth back into the pit. As much as they wanted to, they couldn't leave the coffin uncovered. Someone would notice. For Light, it was enough to see the skull's remains getting covered, ivory fading under the black filth. And yet-

"….this is alright, isn't it?" He moved closer to the grave, palming the tombstone's polished marble and leaning into the shadows. "I know what you said, but it doesn't make sense. I stole him from you. His life-the blood's on my hands, B. Not yours."

The shovel sank into the grass, its duty done, and B turned to him. His expression was dark, though not judgmental. A languid beast, sniffing his mate as they writhed with uncertainty. "Kira-kun…you already murdered him in cold blood. Something I never got to do. It's only right that you got to finish the job." He smirked, curling a finger. Light refused to move, their stubborn natures much the same in that respect. So B went to him, pressing a kiss to the brunette's lips and pulling him away from the grave. "A murder most foul should only be outdone by revenge just as cruel. You're Kira. Who better could do it but you?" B smirked. "But, if it'll make you feel better-" he got down on his knees and searched through the grass, sifting it with his fingers. For a moment it appeared he was simply behaving like the maniac he was, but then he was jumping to his feet, a piece of bone brandished in the air. "This'll do."

Light deadpanned. "…..it's a vertebrae."

"Oh yes. The bone of an enemy makes the best jewelry." Slipping it onto his finger, B gave him a horrifying smile. "And I've always wanted to try bone carving." He spun it round and around, placing a hand on the small of Light's back and leading him away from the grave as it glowed in the moonlight, which crept inch by inch into the sky. "Consider this my own personal revenge, Kira-kun. You didn't cheat me out of anything. This is more than enough. A trophy-" his fingertips grazed a line up the suit jacket beside him, tracing every nodule beneath the fabric until he found the match to the vertebrae he wore on his finger. "…mm." B's throat rumbled with a soft purr, and when they crossed the cemetery's threshold and stepped through the gates, he pulled the teen to him, nuzzling the side of his throat and chuckling darkly. "I have something Lawli doesn't anyway. Something he'll never have again, even when death do us part."

"Even…but death-"

B smirked, cutting him off with another kiss. "Nothing you need to worry about. Now then….you said something about a reward earlier, if I did a job well done? Well," he trailed off, feigning a thoughtful look. "if you _really_ want to keep yourself from feeling guilty…there IS something else I'd like. A penance, so to speak, from the great Kira…"

"Penance." Light's eyes darkened, taking on the red hue B had so come to adore. Lust for. _Need_. It was a feeling that was completely mutual too, shown by the way Light stepped close and covered the makeshift ring on his hand with his own elegant fingers, squeezing roughly. Eagerly. "….take me home, B. You'll get just what you deserve." His lips curved, endlessly inviting. "I promise."

Heat flared in the killer's groin. He scraped his nails down tawny skin, feeling the pulse beneath swell and drum against them. "How many criminals and followers would kill to hear those words." Their hands joined, and B drew him down the street and into the waiting black. The night sank upon their shoulders like a dark mantle, cloaking them in darkness, but through it all B's eyes shined, his new ring a limpid pearl upon his finger. "And they're all mine. _You're_ all mine." He thumbed Light's knuckles, and the bone made a transfer, glinting casually against the golden skin. Light glanced at it, surprised.

"…forever."

Not a question. Acceptance. A _knowing_, one that they both shared. They were damned together, Kira his own personal monster to own in the world where men could become gods, death considered holy by those who worshipped it. Longed for it. And if death was holy, then Kira truly was the new God, and he'd take great pleasure in being one of his avenging angels. At least until he found something better to do. Or when Light died…though death wouldn't keep them apart. In cases such as theirs, it never did.

Wicked with his thoughts, B drew their hands up and lightly kissed the brunette's finger. "The prize of all too precious you." He'd own him, until the day he died. Even after, for his stamp would always rest upon the golden flesh. A gift L would never know.

Let Light desecrate their enemy's grave. Let him smash L's skull, draw them down into the coffin so they could kiss upon his remains. He'd dig them up as many times as it'd require, as many times as his darling wished. For in the end, the true win was his to claim. Light, L's greatest foe and only friend, was his. _Kira, _the only one to beat Lawli, bury him six feet under and damn his soul to forever roam. was his.

B cackled silently, inside his head. What better revenge was there?

_**Oh yeah. I went there. I actually dared to write a story involving even MORE grave desecration. Happy birthday to L, indeed XD these two simply don't know how to leave him alone! Now, I do hope you all enjoyed this, because I worked my ass off to make sure it was done in time to properly celebrate Halloween. Do me a favor, and please review/comment. Your words always inspire me to keep writing, and I love to hear what you guys have to say. **_

_**That said…bwahahahaha! **_

_**Disclaimer: this is at the bottom of the story, simply because I wanted NOTHING to detract from the tale. But I don't own Death Note, ok? B, Light, L-they're not mine. _ Duh. **_

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